


U is for Under the Stars

by FrankiValerie



Series: A-Z of Jack [20]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, desert heat, jalebislove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 00:30:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12331911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrankiValerie/pseuds/FrankiValerie
Summary: Following on from the "Desert Heat" chapter of After Omega, this marks a very special moment for Jack and Caleb.





	U is for Under the Stars

**June, 2180**

 

Once the job was done and the high of the fight had begun to die down, Jack admitted to herself that she didn’t want to leave as quickly as she had promised herself she would.  The sun had set, the last of the shuttles had left, taking the newly-freed slave girls to safety, and with the night came a calm and wonderful silence.  The desert had been hell in the heat of the day but now it was night, it was heavenly.  She was sat on the trunk of the old car - Caleb’s “surprise” for her - and looked up at the stars.  Most of her life had been spent looking out of shuttle windows at the stars; the great black expanse of space but now, sat on a car, in the middle of the desert, it was like she was looking upon them for the first time.  

She looked around at Caleb, sat with his back to her, slouched in the driver’s seat, and even from this angle she could tell he had a satisfied grin stretching his lips.  

“Hey…” she started, though she was unsure where she wanted to go with it.

He laughed and turned to look at her, “That's all I get, J? A hey?! We just pulled off a tough as fuck job, saved those girls, wound up with a bunch of new guns and survived a fucking sweet firefight. Reckon you should at least be smilin' right now.”

She climbed into the back seat and met his eye, then couldn’t help but mirror his grin and nodded, “It’s been fucking great, C. Really, this was the best… but…” she licked her teeth, a glimmer of hunger in her eye, “...Fight got me pretty worked up…”

They’d spent enough time together that he knew how to read her pretty well by now and knew exactly what she meant - so he jumped into the back seat with her and within moments she was straddling his lap, kissing him with ferocity and passion.  

“...Hey..” he’d pulled from their heated kiss and the interruption made her frown, confused.

“...’Hey’ what?” she panted, her lips swollen from the perfect friction of his stubble.

His hands had slid into the back of her shirt and his fingers traced the patterns of her tattoos - they were so familiar to him now he didn’t need to see them to know their lines, “hey, you’re gorgeous. And ...I don't get much time to say that, J. Been months since I saw you last, and if it's gonna be another couple of months before I see you again, I wanna tell you what I'm thinking now, so you know.”

His touch and the sincerity in his eyes relaxed her again, and she smiled, soft and genuine, “I’m not planning on going away anytime soon, C.  if you got more work, I'm available.”

He beamed brightly, his hands laying against her and squeezing her waist gently, “You know I've always got work if you want it, J. You and me make a good team.”

It wasn’t long before they were naked, entwined, joined together.  He kept their pace slow, and she let him; it was too perfect a feeling to rush and his honesty had inspired her to open up, “fuck, Caleb… dunno how I ain’t gone crazy being away for you for so long.”

As he worshipped her with his lips, his hands, the rock of his hips, she pulled back to admire her again, “..gorgeous woman like you, J - you'd have guys lining up for a chance with you. Could have any guy you wanted.”

She met his eye, “like you couldn't have any chick you wanted? Think you know as well as I do... just anyone won't do. No one else feels this fucking perfect.  No one ever has.”

Caleb’s hands moved up to hold her waist gently, his eyes locking on hers, “...I don't want anyone else. I only want you.”

She raised her hand to cup his cheek, smiling warmly, genuinely happy for the first time in months, and leaned to kiss him again, soft and tender, a touch she reserved for him alone, “then I'm yours, Caleb.

He halted his movements entirely and searched her eyes, and she recognised the apprehension within them; the fear of being hurt, “...you mean it, J?”

She brushed his stubble with her thumb, losing herself in her emotions and beginning to feel exposed, like a raw nerve, but she loved how being with him makes it okay - how he makes her feel safe and comfortable, knowing then that she could always be herself with him... that she could trust him.  “I mean it... I'm yours for as long as you want me... and even if you didn't.”

Pressed so close to her, she could feel his heart beating hard in his chest as he reached up to cup her cheek and he held her gaze, speaking softly, “...of course I want you, J. I love you.”

She beamed and pressed against his hand once she saw that familiar sincerity, the reliable honesty in his eyes.  Jack leaned to kiss him again, intimate, passionate, slow before finally pulling back to meet his eye again,  “I love you too, Caleb.”

**Author's Note:**

> Again, massive thanks to Caleb's writer and creator for letting me (and Jack) play with such an amazing character.


End file.
